


Swing life away

by LittleFallingStar (LittleDevil)



Category: Naruto
Genre: And I will get back to it as soon as I finished my other Sakura centric fic, Angst, Danzo is an ass btw, F/M, I promise, MadaSakuDay2019, Then there willl come some semblance of happy ending, au soulmates, can you tell I wrote this on my phone to make sure I was able to post it on schedule?, i really love this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 05:11:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20002855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleDevil/pseuds/LittleFallingStar
Summary: Sakura had been resigned to the fact  that she would never meet her soulmate since she was 6. Because he was long dead."They can't  use your heart against you."She should have laughed into her mothers face for that sentiment.





	Swing life away

Every shinobi had their soulmate registered upon entering the academy. There were people born with multiple soulmarks, some with none. Sometimes one would develop a new mark later in life, but that was rare. Most people found their soulmate in their youth, some never. Often times because they remained at their birthplace, while others lost their soulmate before having the chance to meet them. 

Ino had told her about how amazing meeting her soulmate for the first time would be. There would be butterflies in her stomach and a warm feeling that had nothing to do with the temperature.

When Sakura entered into the academy the nurse that registered her soulmark swallowed visibly. Sakuras parents had told her the washed out grey meant the person wasn't alive, yet. Privately she disagreed. Sasuke was her soulmate, even when he still denied to have a soulmark at all. She had felt the butterflies. Still she wasn't worried. That is until the nurse leveled her with pitying gaze and pursed her lips. 

"Sakura-chan. Do you know what it means when the mark is a washed out grey?"

She smiled at the nurse. 

"Mama says my soulmate is not born yet."

The nurse nodded slowly. 

"Yes, that. Or they are already dead." Sakura flinched and looked towards her mother. 

"But.. "

"This mark is one of the more obvious ones I'm afraid. Your mother said it was black until you were 3."

"What?! Mama no, please! You're lying!"

The woman shook her head. Sakura shot around to plead with her mother. The tears in Mebukis eyes told her all she needed to know. 

"It will be ok, baby. You want to be a shinobi. They can never use your heart against you."

And those remained the most influential words she would hear for a long time. 

Sakura moved on. Or tried to anyway. There were plenty of people who never had a chance to be with their soulmate and we're happier for it. At least that's what her mother told her. 

The shock remained and Sakura tucked her heart away. The emptiness that had consumed her during the first few weeks after the appointment remained a constant companion. It made things easier. She figured if she didn't feel, she wouldn't have to be sad. Ino didn't try to talk to her after the second month. 

Danzo became aware of her. They took her five months after she enrolled. There wasn't any emotion left to condition out of her, but they tried anyway just to make sure. 

She became a weapon. 

Serving the village became her whole purpose. There were others in root who where indoctrinated deeper. They never had a questioning thought in their life but as time went on, Sakura wondered more often than not whether Danzos way was actually the best for their village. 

Despite the conditioning she remembered herself. Her name, her birthday. The name of her parents. 

Sometimes she checked on them. They had adopted 3 orphans after she "died". Sakura told herself didn't feel a dull ache where her heart was. Sometimes she believed herself. 

She was 13 when Danzo put her in Anbu.

The missions were interesting enough. Mainly she got to guard the hokage but sometimes they let her out to sabotage or assassinate. She preferred the former. Killing people always left a bad taste in her mouth. Reminded her of dreams and longing she had long left behind. No, Sparrow preferred sabotage and espionage. When no-one died she didn't have to remember dreams about red shining eyes spinning in the dark. 

Madara Uchiha. During some mission related research she had found that the pattern on her hip was his mangekyo-sharingan. It surely wasn't a coincidence.

Sparrow was sure it was part of the reason Danzo had acquired her for Root. 

Sparrow watched in the shadows as the kyubi-container and copy-nin ran off to save their teammate from Orochimaru yet again. She rather thought it was a wasted effort. The last Uchiha could die as well for all she cared. Traitors she despised more than anything. It was one of the only feelings she allowed herself to feel. 

Sparrow chose to not think about the reason for that. It would bring her back to those red eyes and she required at least a day to shake the dull ache everytime she indulged herself with those thoughts. 

  
  


\---------------------

Sparrow wasn't fast enough. It had nothing to with with skill. She simply didn't want to throw herself before Danzo as the traitor fell him the last time. With no Izanagi's left Danzo had trusted her to sacrifice herself for him. No such luck. That man had gone crazy with power and not acted in Konohas interests in years. 

Before the traitor could turn to kill her she removed her mask and surrendered. Danzo Bad been wrong and so was what she had been taught all this time. 15 years ago she had known it was wrong but hadn't cared. Now all she had done in the name of peace caught up to her. And she wondered perhaps for the first time at all, whether killing her heart had been the right decision. 

  
  


"Sakura?"

Now that was a name she hadn't heard in ages. 

"Yes."

He was confused, Sakura could tell. 

"They told us you died 15 years ago. How are you alive? "

"Konohas Roots operates in the shadows."

With Danzo gone so was her Silencing Seal. 

"I will return to the Hokage now, I hope she is awake again. I will let you go as thanks for ridding Konoha of this cockroach.", she spat. It dawned on her that this return of feeling, even if it was just anger didn't bode well for her. She sealed Danzos corpse inside a storage scroll and left a thoroughly befuddled Sasuke behind. 

\------------------

With Danzos death Root disbanded for real. Tsunade let most agents transition to anbu. They were required to attend 10 therapy sessions. It was a joke. With 10 sessions not even Spar- Sakura got in touch with herself. 

They made her live meet her parents. Mebukis and Kizashi cried when they saw her. The dull ache in her chest grew more sharp. Why had she never before considered to come back to them? 

  
  


There wasn't a lot of time for recovery. 

Sakura was needed in the field. Killing the Zetsus was easier than facing the pressing guilt in the back of her mind. 

\-------------------------- 

She hadn't been fast enough. This time it hadn't been deliberate.

Madara Uchiha was truly something else. 

Sakura held one hand to her side where a stray Zetsu had ripped into her. The other was wrapped around the sword protruding from her chest. He had put it there. 

"They can never use your heart against you", her mother had said. 

Despite the pain and the blood in her lungs she laughed. Everything that weighed her down fell away. 

  
  


Time came to a halt as Madara focused all his attention on the girl before him. 

There were tears in her eyes. Her laugh of pure joy rang through his soul. 

"Oh, no."

It was funny really. To see the panicked look on his face as he realized, as he felt it too. Underneath her ripped flak jacket her soulmark bloomed bright scarlett. 

"Oh, yes,", she rasped. She'd drown in her own blood in the next couple of minutes. Still she couldn't stop smiling. So this was what it felt like. 

He let go of his sword and ripped his sleeve up to reveal a sparrow that carried a cherry blossom in it's beak. 

And because she felt funny in the head already she said "Sorry for being late. I didn't mean to let you wait. " because it felt like the right thing to say.

Breathing became harder by the minute and she collapsed to her knees. She couldn't see his face anymore. Everything was swimming along the edges. But if his continued mumble of "No, no, no" was any indicator, the fact that he had killed her must have caught up with him. 

"I have a request."

"I'm so sorry." It registered with her that he must have pulled her into his lap. She took a last shuddering breath, concentrating on his warm hands in her hair and on her cheek. . 

"Don't let me wait too long. I've missed you."

She did her best to put on a smile before everything went dark. And for the first time in years she actually felt peaceful. 

  
  



End file.
